Page 37 of Bizarre Bonds
I manage a small smile. “Maybe. For now, all we can do is wait and see.”
I’m not telling her the real explanation he gave. I don’t know whether Peri would feel more guilty for the part she played in it or excited to realize that the main barrier between us has been dissolved—or which reaction I’d find worse.
One of the shadowkind assistants has drawn closer to the creature we’ve been monitoring. She motions to Peri urgently. “I think it’s about to morph again!”
Peri shoots me an apologetic smile and hustles off to work her powers.
With a rumble that resonates through the air, Rollick’s private jet lifts into the sky from the airfield a short drive from our camp. The plane pierces the blue sky and dwindles into the distance.
The shadowkind creature lurches, shudders, and sprouts a shaggy mane like a lion, with massive, clawed paws to match.
Raze ambles over to join me. Peri’s impact on him has been nothing but good—his loosened movements show his new confidence in his self-control.
“Is there anything for us to do right now?” he asks.
I glance toward the wavering patch of air I can only make out when I focus intensely. “I’m not sure. I guess it depends onwhether the protections continue to hold, and what the creature we’re monitoring?—”
Before my eyes, the rift ripples and vanishes. My words snag in my throat.
Raze flinches at the same moment. Clearly I’m not imagining things.
A growl rumbles out of him. “What—where did it go?”
Peri has scrambled up from where she was soothing the shadowkind creature. Three assistants jog over with identical expressions of bewilderment. Zian hollers to Riva, who emerges from the trailer they’ve been sharing.
As disconcerting as this development is, I find I’m not exactly upset. Finally, I’ve got a concrete problem I actually have some hope of solving.
I motion to the terrain around us. “The other rifts have moved before. We knew this one probably would at some point too. Anyone who can move quickly, spread out and search. Report back if you locate it. They haven’t usually traveled far from their previous position.”
The assistants dart into the shadows. Zian and Riva dash off while still in physical form, relying on their supernaturally enhanced speed.
I scan the horizon, even though I have no hope of spotting the rift when I could barely make it out right in front of me.
Peri shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “Should I go too?” She glances down at the creature she was soothing.
Raze makes a dismissive grunt and steps toward her with his usual protective stance. “There are lots of beings already looking. Someone should stay and monitor the situation here too.”
Hail materializes nearby, his face already set in a scowl. “What’s the sudden fuss out—” His gaze jars to a halt where the rift used to be. “Oh. We’re chasing the damn thing now.”
“Catch it if we can!” Mirage declares, emerging after the winter fae with a short laugh. He hops into a handstand as if he thinks he might be able to spot the rift better upside down.
I glance at the trailers, narrowing my mind to the practicalities with my renewed sense of purpose. We’re going to need to move these to the new location. We only have a couple of vehicles to haul them, so it’ll take a few trips. And then…
Before I can finish working out the logistics, one of Rollick’s assistants pops back into view. She speaks breathlessly. “It’s jumped almost a whole mile. All the way over by the edge of the city.”
My spine stiffens. “It’s that close?”
She nods, her mouth twisting unhappily. “Right next to one of the factories just outside the city limits. There’ll be all kinds of people passing by.”
Fuck. Any satisfaction I’d gathered disintegrates.
We can’t put the trailers right next to any buildings in human use, at least not close enough to easily monitor the rift.
How are we going to contain this unnerving portal when it’s right on top of the people we’re trying to protect?
14
Periwinkle
